Hatjpter



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

B. WOLHAUPTER 8v W. S. JONES.

POWER BRAKE FOR RAILWAY CARS.

AN QBEW B-BHAHAM. FHO'YO-IJTHO.WASHINGTON.D.C.

-2 She'ts-Sheet 2. I B. WOLHAUPTER & W. S. JONES.

(No Model.)-

POWER BRAKE P 'R RAILWAY. ems.-

Patente d Feb; 4 1896.

PNUTO-U'I'IIQWASHINGTOMRC.

UNTTED STATES PATENT @rmcn.

BENJAMIN \VOLIIAUPTER AND WILLIS S. JONES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

POWER-BRAKE FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 553,883, dated February 4, 1896.

Application filed December 80, 1893- Serial No. 495,179. (No model.)

To LLZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, BENJAMIN \VOL- HAUPTER and WILLIS S. JoNEs, the former a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and the latter a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Power-Brakes for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to power-brakes for railway-cars, and, while our invention is ap plicable to railway passenger-cars, it is more particularly designed for application to railway freight cars and also to the use of compressed air as well as hand-power for operating the brake mechanism.

Among the primary objects of our invention are included that of producing a brake mechanism which shall be applicable to a great variety of types of railway running-gear and which shall automatically apply the brakeshoes to the truck-wheels with greater or less pressure, according as the car is carrying a heavier or a lighter load; also to produce a brake mechanism which shall automatically apply the brake-shoes either with equal pressure to the wheels of both trucks or which shall apply a greater pressure to the wheels of one truck and a less-pressure to the wheels of the other truck, according as the load is either distributed uniformly to both trucks or is borne more by one truck than by the other, the purpose being in any event to prevent sliding or skidding of the wheels and the consequent flattening thereof.

A further primary object of our invention is to produce a brake mechanism the principal operative parts of which shall accord perfectly in location with the existing standard of railway-brake construction, so that the brake mechanism shall be readily applicable to old cars as well as to new ones without involving any structural alterations thereof.

A still further primary object of our invention is to produce a brake mechanism the principal operative parts of which shall automatically and effectively compensate for differences in thickness of the brake-shoes due to wear and replacement, so that there shall be no waste of braking pressure or undesirable straining of the brake mechanism.

The above-mentioned objects, and also such others as may appear from the ensuing description, are attained by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in vertical longitudinal section, of a railway-car provided with a brake mechanism embodying our invention, the carbody and truck-wheels being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is an inverted or under side plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal section of the mountings and attachments of the special form of truck king-bolt fulcrum shown in Figs. 1 and 2, certain parts adjacent to the kingbolt being broken away. Fig. 4 is a plan view of a modified arrangement of the powerlever, the view showing also the air-brake cylinder and reservoir and certain attachments thereto. Fig. 4 comprises a plan view and a longitudinal section of a brake-cylinder having a modified form of air-vent. Fig. 5 is an enlarged view in vertical longitudinal section of a fulcrum-bearing for the liftinglever independent of a king-bolt. Fig. 6 is an enlarged transverse vertical section of the structure shown in Fig. 5 and taken on a plane at right angles to that of said Fig. 5.

lleretofore power-brakes for railway-train service have generally, though not always, been constructed in such a manner that the pressure which is applied through the brake shoes to the truck-wheels is wholly dependent upon the power exerted by the brakeactuating devices, such applied power never being less than that exerted by said actuating devices. Consequently, since the maximum braking-pressure must never be sufficient to slide or skid the wheels, of empty cars, it isfrequently not sufficient to properly brake the wheels oi loaded cars and, therefore, mixed trains are not usually under per feet braking control. Various expedients have heretofore been devised to automatically vary the braking-pressure to accord with variations in loads, but all of such attempts have been seriously defective, principally in involving departures from the fixed standard of construction and equipment.

As will be seen from the ensuing description, we have produced a power-brake mechanism which overcomes all of the defects heretofore incident to those brake mechanisms which are designed to varythe brakingpressure in accordance with variations in the amount and disposition or location of the load; the various operative parts of the m echanism being placed in exact accordance with the recognized structural standard and the braking-pressure being automatically varied by the lifting attachments so to accord precisely with load conditions.

Referring 110w in detail to the drawings, A designates the bottom or floor of a railway'car, B the truck-wheels thereof, and so much of the truck-frame as is necessary to a clear comprehension of the relative positions of the parts. The parts just mentioned are of the usual or any preferred type of construction; the car A being either a box-car, a gondola or any desired kind of a freight car.

1 designates the usual air-brake reservoir and 2 the brake cylinder connected in customary manner with said reservoir. 3 designates the piston-rod of the brake-cylinder 2, and a the piston connected in any proper manner to the inner end of the piston-rod 3 and working in customary manner in the brake-cylinder 2. At its outer end the piston-rod 3 is connected to a power-lever 7, this lever being placed in approximately horizontal position beneath the car-bottom A and pivoted intermediately of its ends upon said car-bottom. In Fig. 2 the power-lever 7 is shown as having a stationary pivot 8 in a horizontal bar or hanger 9 which extends beneath the lever, while in Fig. 4 the lever 7 is shown as having a movable pivot 10 which works in a horizontal slot 11 in a hanger-bar l2 likewise secured to the bottom of the car body and extending beneath the power-lever. The differences in operation between the fixedly and movably pivoted power-lever 7 will be hereinafter ex plained.

Beneath each end of the car-body are placed the usual pair of companion brake-beam levers 13 and 18, the brake-beams, which carry the brake-shoes, being connected to said levers, as at 11 and 19, respectively, at points nearer to the lower ends than to the upper ends of said brake-beam levers. These brakebea-m levers 13 an d 18 accord precisely in position and normal vertical inclination or obliquity with the recognized structural standard, and at their lower ends each pair of said levers are connected together by the usual horizontal link-rods 1.7. The upper end of each brake-beam lever 13 is connected by a link-rod 15 to a fixed or dead point 16 on the truck-frame O, and the upper end of each brake-beam lever 18 is connected by a linkrod 20 to one end of the corresponding one of two similar equalizing-levers 21. The opposite end of one of the two equalizing-levers 21 is connected by alink-rod 22 to the end of the shorter arm of the power-lever 7 and the opposite end of the other equalizing-lever is connected by a link-rod 23 to the longer arm of the power-lever 7 at a point between the pivot of the power-lever and the outer end of the longer arm thereof.

At each end of the car-body A is located a weighing orliftinglever 24 which extends longitudinally of the oar-body, each of these levers being pivoted, as at 25, upon the under side of the car-body and being shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 as extending over and also as resting upon the upper end of the swivel-bolt or king-bolt D of the truck. The under side of each lifting-lever 2% is in this instance shown as provided with a cavity 26 to receive the upper end of the kin g-bolt D, and said kin gbolt is shown as provided at a point about midway of its length with an enlargcm cnt 27 resting in a horizontal socket-piece 28 which is secured to the upper side of the truck-frame.

The inner end of each lifting-lever 2- is slightly hooked, as at 29, (or has a slight depression in its upper side,) so as to be properly engaged by the hooked upper end 30 of the corresponding lifting bell-crank lever 31. There are two of these bell-crank levers 31, each being pivoted, as at 32, to the under side of the car-body bottom at a point just above the corresponding equalizing-lever 21, the upper arm of each bell-crank lever extending in a plane with the bottom of the car and the other arm depending vertically downward from the car-bottom. Thelower end of each bell-crank lever 31 is formed with a hook which embraces the corresponding equalizing-lever 21, either midway of the length of said equalizing-lever or at a point intermediate of the ends thereof.

From the above description it will be seen that normally-that is, when the brake-shoes are not applied to the truck-wheels-the hooked ends of the bell-crank levers 31 rest lightly upon the inner ends of the lifting-levers 21. \Vhen the brakes are applied the pistonq'od 3 pushes the corresponding end of the power-lever 7 away from the brake-cylinder 2 and pulls upon the rods 22 and 23 so as to swing the equalizing-levers 211.. The equalizing levers 21, acting through the hooked lower ends of the bell-crank levers 31, now move said bell-cranks so as to depress their upper ends 30 into forcible contact with the ends 29 of the lifting-levers 24, thus depressing said liftingdevers forcibly upon the king bolts D and applying the brakes, such pressure continuing until its excess, if any, acting through the pivots 25 of the lifting-levers 24, raises the car-body.

o desire to here state particularly that the connection of the lower ends of the bellcrank levers 31 to the equalizing-levers 21, either at points precisely midway of the length of the levers or intermediate ot' the ends thereof, is productive of certain vital advantages (both structurally and operatively) over those brake mechanisms in which lifting and equalizing levers are used and in which the lower lifting-lever is connected to the equalizing-lever at one extremity of the latter.

The advantages are, briefly stated, that when the connection is at the middle of the equalizing-lever, the power transmitted to the lifting-levers is double that received by the brake-levers, Whereas with the lifting-lever connection at the end of the equalizinglever, the power applied to the former is, at the maximum, never more than equal to that received by the brake-lever. Hence, with a middle connection, the lower lifting-levers can be shorter than with an end connection to develop equal power, less lost motion results, greater celerity of action is attained, and there is but little liability of breakage of the lower lifting-levers (since they are more elevated from the road-bed) than with an end connection.

with the fixedly-pivoted power-lever shown in Fig. 2 the brakingpressure is instantly applied when any of the brake-shoes come into contact with the truck-wheels and the pressure of the shoes upon the wheels increases correspondingly to the pressure of the bellcranks 31 upon the lifting-levers 24 until the latter pressure becomes sufficient to depress the inner ends of either or both of the liftinglevers and to cause said lifting lever or levers to raise the car-body, as stated. Thenceforth no additional braking-pressure is applied to the brake-shoe (of but one or of both trucks according as the load is evenly or unevenly borne by the trucks) and all additional power simply serves 10 lift the car-body.

lVith the movable pivot 10 (shown in Fig. 4) the braking-pressure upon all of the brakeshoes does not occur until all of such shoes are properly applied to the truck-wheels,those shoes which are thickest or newer first coming into contact with the wheels and the fulcrum of the power-lever temporarily shifting from the middle to the end of the lever, and the slot in the hanger permitting the central pivot to shift laterally until the thinner or older shoes have been applied. The effective braking-pressure is thereupon instantly exerted, the power-lever 7 first acting as a floating lever and then, when in contact with an end of its slot, as a fixed pivoted lever, and hence in this instance being, it is believed, aptly termed a floating pivoted lever. This action of the power-lever is advantageous where from wear and similar causes the brake-shoes, either upon one or both of the trucks, are of different thickness, the described shifting of the pivotal point of the power-lever in the slot of its hanger enabling the brake mechanism to automatically compensate for such diiferences in brake-shoe thickness. This adjustment is not only entirely automatic, but it is perfectly accurate and effective, which is not true of previous attempts involving the formation of numerous holes or eyes, as 40, at the point of connection of the brake-beam levers 13 and 18 with the rod 17 and elsewhere, such structures only approximately and temporarily effecting their intended purpose. After the pivots 10,have become set, the action of the lifting connections is as before described.

In the structure above described it is obvious that the king-bolts of the trucks are necessary as the fulcrum-supports for the lifting-levers 24, and, moreover, that a special form of king-bolt is necessary or desirable in order to effectively resist the downward pressure of the lifting-levers when the braking strain is excessive and lifts the car-body, the enlargements 27 being required to take such pressure. However, in Figs. 5 and 6 we have shown an arrangement which dispenses with the king-bolt as the fulcrum-support for the lifting-levers, and which therefore enables the braking mechanism to be applied to cars having the ordinary form of king-bolt, and which, furthermore, enables the braking mechanism to be applied to cars having other than bogie-trucks, if necessary. In said Figs. 5 and 6 those parts which are similar to parts previously described are designated by like letters and numerals of reference as are employed in the previous description. The usual form of king-bolt D is here shown, however, the enlargement 27 used in the king-bolt D bein g dispensed with. The socket-plate 28 may be used, however, and if so it is located upon the truck-frame,as before described,the kingbolt D passing upward through said plate; but in this instance a base-piece 53 rests in the cavity of the socket-piece 28, and from said base rises an inverted -U-shaped standard 54:, the upper end of which enters the notch 26 in the lifting-lever 24, the standard 54 thus serving as the fulcrum-supports for the lifting-levers. The operation is precisely as before described, excepting that no strain from the lifting-levers comes upon the kingpins D, and it is obvious, therefore, that this style or type of fulcrum-support is applicable also to other than bogie-truckssuch, for example, as are used in railway vehicles abroad and as may be used in urban electric railway service and the like.

The precise form of the standard may obviously be varied as desired and the basepiece 53 may be used, or the fulcrum-standard may obviously be supported upon the truckframe in any manner without departing from the essential spirit of our invention.

It is frequently desirable in either of the structures above described to operate the brakes by hand independently of the atmospheric power, as in making up trains, cutting out cars from trains, and the like, and in order to provide for such uses of the brakes we connect to one end of the powerlever7 a rod 50, which is also connected by a chain or equivalent means to the hand-brake staff at one end of the car-body. The opposite end of the power-lever is extended, as shown in dotted lines at 51 in Fig. 2, and to the outer end of this extension 51 is connected by a rod 52 (also shown in dotted lines) to the hand-brake staff at the opposite end of the car. The operation of the brake mechanism through the medium of the hand connections just described is believed to be so clearly obvious as to need no detailed description.

111 order to permit continued movement of the piston-rod for actuating the lifting devices after the brake-shoes have been effectively applied, and also to prevent all possible injury to the brake-cylinder by reason of sudden striking of the piston-head against the cylinder-head, we have provided the brakecylinder with relief or vent port attachments which are as follows: 5 and 6 in Fig. 4 designate two vent-ports which are placed adjacent to that end or head of the cylinder toward which the piston-head moves when the shoes are being applied, the port 5 being of greater area than the port 0, and said port 5 being placed between the port 6 and the head of the cylinder. Thus as the piston-head approaches the cylinder-head it will first uncover the smaller port, 6, and if this does not sufficiently relieve the pressure the further movement of the piston will uncover the larger port, 5, thus relieving the pressure and preventing violent contact of the piston-head with the cylinder-head. In Fig. 4 we have shown a single relief'port 6 as used in lieu of the two ports 5 and 6, this port 6 being of triangular form and placed adjacent to the head of the brake-cylinder and the base of the triangle being nearer the head of the cylinder than is the apex. Thus as the piston head moves toward the head of the cylinder it will first uncover a small area of the reliefopening, and as it continues to move will uncover a successively increased area of reliefopening until the pressure is relieved.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A power-brake mechanism, comprising lifting devices, and a f ulcrum-standard therefor supported by a pivoted carrying-wheel frame and independent of said frame; the lifting devices being operatively connected with the brake-shoes so as to neutralize excessive pressure upon the latter, substantially as set forth.

2. A power-brake mechanism, comprising a power-lever, lifting'levers one of which is fulcrumed upon a carrying-wheel frame, and an equalizingdever connected intermediately of its ends with the lifting devices, and also at one endto the power-lever and at its opposite end to the brake-lever, substantially as set forth.

3. Arailway power-brake mechanism, comprising a power-lever, a brake-lever, and lifting devices, and an equalizing-lever connected intermediately of its ends to the lifting devices, and also at one end to the powerlever, and at its opposite end to the brakelever, substantially as set forth.

l. Arailwaypower-brake mechanism, comprising a power-lever, a plurality of brakelevers, a plurality of sets of lifting devices, and also a plurality of equalizing-levers each connected intermediately of its ends to one set of lifting devices, and also at one end to the power-lever and at its opposite end to one of the brakelevers, substantially as set forth.

5. A railway power-brake mechanism, com prising a brake-cylinder, a power-lever connected to the piston-rod of the brake-cylinder, a brake-lever, and lifting devices, and an equalizing-lever connected intermediatelyof its ends to the lifting devices and also at one end to the power-lever, and at its opposite end to the brake-lever, substantially as set forth.

(5. Arailway power-brake mechanism, comprising a brake-cylinder, a power-lever connected to the piston-rod of said cylinder, a plurality of sets of lifting devices, a plurality of brake-levers, and alsoa plurality of equaL izing-levers each connected intermediately of its ends to one set of lifting devices, and also at one end to the power-lever and at its opposite end to one of the brake-levers, substantially as set forth.

7. A railway power-brake mechanism, comprising a brake-cylinder having ventage of variable area located adjacent to the cylinderhead, a piston-head serving to uncover the ventage, a piston-rod connected to said piston-head, lifting devices acting against the car-body, and connected to equalizing-levers intermediately of the ends of said levers, and a power-lever connected to the piston-rod and operatively connected through said equalizing-lever to the lifting devices, substantially as set forth.

8. A railway power-brake mechanism, comprising a truck-frame connected to the carbody by a king-bolt, a f ulcrum-standard supported upon the truck coincidently with the king-bolt, and a pair of lifting-levers one of which is pivotally supported by the standard while the other is operatively connected with the brake-shoe; said levers serving to neutralize excessive pressure upon the brakeshoes, and an equalizing-lever connected intermediately of its ends to the liftingdevices, substantially as set forth.

BENJ. \VOLIIAUPTER. VILLIS S. JONES. \Vitnesses JNo. L. CoNDoN, M. E. SHIELDS. 

